Psychology and Criminology

Our Psychology and Criminology degree has a particular emphasis on criminal behaviour, law enforcement and crime prevention. It will also equip you with transferable critical and analytical skills that will enhance your employability. Studying Psychology and Criminology offers you considerable flexibility and choice within a supportive environment, through teaching staff and your personal academic tutor.

The Psychology and Criminology degree offers you access to excellent facilities and resources. These will aid your research in social, cognitive, biological, developmental and personality psychology. In addition, highly experienced and professional staff deliver engaging and relevant course content.

Within Psychology and Criminology, you will learn new ways of understanding how and why people think and act as they do. As the ‘problem’ of crime has increasingly become a matter of public and political concern, so the prevention of crime has been prioritised as a matter of social policy. The programme addresses each of these issues and many others in a systematic and methodical manner.

Stage one

You will be introduced to the core disciplines that underpin the academic analysis of both areas. Year one explores the introduction of Psychology and Criminology. It provides an excellent foundation of knowledge for you to advance to year two.

The other modules in this stage enable you to acquire skills in the design and execution of a range of psychological and academic research methods, the analysis and interpretation of data and technical report writing.

You will build on the fundamentals of Psychology and Criminology, exploring the basics of biological, cognitive, social and developmental psychology. This is combined with exploring modules on Crime and Society, True Crime and Other Fictions and The Science of Crime and Criminals. These module aim to introduce key themes, historical perspectives and debates that surround crime.

You are required to take six compulsory 20-credit modules to attain a total of 120 credits:

• PSY1003 Introduction to Psychology
• CRI1007 The Science of Crime and Criminals
• CRI1002 Crime and Society
• PSY1006 Becoming a Psychologist
• PSY1012 Psychology for Life
• CRI1006 True Crime and Other Fictions

Stage two

These modules take you into more detailed and developed areas, considering the wider issues and debates surrounding Psychology and Criminology. In stage two, most students will choose to major in one or other of the two areas covered in our psychology and criminology courses.

The Psychology major route is required if you are seeking Graduate Basis for Chartered membership of the British Psychological Society (GBC). Psychology majors will undertake four modules covering research methods and the core areas of the psychology curriculum as required by the BPS. These include social, developmental, biological, cognitive and personality psychology, plus the key debates within psychology:

• PSY2005 Research Methods in Psychology
• PSY2029 Cognitive and Biological Psychology
• PSY2030 Social and Developmental Psychology
• PSY2031 Personality & the Fundamentals of Psychology

Psychology majors will then choose 40 credits (two modules) from the Criminology modules designated for them.

Criminology major students have a focus on crime and justice. This forms the broader organising theme at this stage. You will be taken through the levels of criminal justice procedures, from point of arrest to disposal of criminal cases at court. You will do 80 credits of criminology modules and 40 credits of psychology modules. There are two compulsory criminology modules at this:

• CRI2004 Research Methods for Criminology
• CRI2001 Crime and Justice

It is also possible to choose not to major in either subject. In this case, you will need to select a choice of modules that includes one research methods module. You should also ensure that your load is evenly split between the two subjects in this year. Note that third year subjects may have prerequisites that are needed in this year, so plan your choices carefully.

Stage three

At this stage, you will have the opportunity to develop specialised and intensive study on areas and aspects of Psychology and Criminology that you find particularly interesting.

This will involve undertaking a 40-credit dissertation in the subject you are majoring in. You will then take two 20-credit modules from each subject alongside the dissertation. A dissertation supervisor with expertise in your major subject will be allocated to you.

You will choose two of the list of psychology modules available. These include one from each of the applied psychological professions such as forensic psychology and clinical psychology. There are also modules reflecting the research expertise of our staff, for example the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality and Positive Psychology.

All students will take the core criminology module for stage three, CRI3001 Crime and Punishment. This provides an overview of the philosophy and theories of punishment as well as an examination of the institutions responsible for the punishment of offenders. You will then also choose one of the remaining modules to round out your curriculum for your final year.

It is possible for students to avoid majoring in either subject. These students can choose to write a dissertation on any topic within the programme. The dissertation builds on and expands your prior knowledge of research methodology acquired at stage one and two. It aims to foster the development of expertise in methodology and skills in the planning, conduct and write-up of research reports. This form of independent, experiential learning will require you to ask logical questions to diagnose and define problems, generate and implement solutions and evaluate the effectiveness of their action-outcomes.

Collapse